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- AC Milan fall at Fiorentina after De Gea's penalty heroics
- Lewandowski treble for leaders Barca as Atletico held
- Fresh Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Sucic stunner earns Real Sociedad draw against Atletico
- PSG draw with Nice, fail to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1
- Gudmundsson downs AC Milan after De Gea's penalty heroics for Fiorentina
- 'Yes' vote prevails in Kazakhstan nuclear plant vote: TV
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Lewandowski hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- India maintain Pakistan stranglehold as Windies cruise at Women's T20 World Cup
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- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
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- Maresca hails Chelsea's 'fighting' spirit after draw with 10-man Forest
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- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
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- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Arshdeep, Chakravarthy help India hammer Bangladesh in T20 opener
- Lewandowski's quickfire hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
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- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
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- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
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French anti-vaccine convoy heads toward Brussels
Around three hundred vehicles taking part in a Canada-style protest convoy against Covid regulations arrived in Lille, northern France, on Sunday en route to Brussels, where officials have already banned a demonstration called for Monday.
The flag-bearing trek north came after 97 people were arrested in Paris on Saturday as thousands of demonstrators defied a ban on trying to block traffic, with 81 still in custody early Sunday.
The convoy, while smaller than the nearly 3,000 vehicles that converged on the capital from cities across France, stopped Sunday at the parking lot of a shopping mall outside Lille, just south of the Belgian border.
"We'll go to Brussels to try to block it, to fight against this policy of permanent control," said Jean-Pierre Schmit, an unemployed 58-year-old who came from Toulouse.
For Sandrine, 45, who came from Lyon, the government's response to the Covid crisis had revealed that "we're losing our freedoms bit by bit, in an insidious way."
The self-proclaimed "freedom convoy" of cars, trucks and campervans is one of several worldwide inspired by a truckers' standoff with authorities in Canada.
In France, the demonstrators took aim in particular at the "vaccine pass" required to enter restaurants, cafes and many other public venues implemented as part of President Emmanuel Macron's inoculation drive.
But participants have also cited rising fuel and energy costs, an echo of the "yellow vest" grievances that forced Macron to announce a series of tax cuts and other concessions.
More than 100 vehicles managed to converge on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris despite a heavy police deployment to keep them out of the city, with security forces using teargas to disperse protesters in scenes reminiscent of the "yellow vest" clashes of 2018 and 2019.
Prosecutors said Jerome Rodrigues, a leader of the "yellow vest" protest movement, was one of the people detained in the Saturday protests, though his lawyer denied any organisational role and called him a "political prisoner."
The Paris police department also said an internal inquiry had been opened after a video emerged on social media showing an officer pointing his gun at a driver.
- 'Fatigue' and anger -
The demonstrations, with convoys setting out from cities across France, come two months before presidential elections in which Macron is expected to seek re-election.
On Friday, Macron said he understood the "fatigue" after two years of the pandemic.
"This fatigue also leads to anger. I understand it... But I call for the utmost calm," he told the Ouest-France newspaper.
The government has said it plans to relax face mask mandates by February 28, and is hoping to end the vaccine pass requirement by late March or early April.
Some 24,000 more people demonstrated in other parts of the country Saturday, the authorities said, including in the southern city of Montpellier, where radical fringe activists broke the glass facades of two banks.
G.Stevens--AMWN